Duke's Virada Nirapathpongporn, the 2002 NCAA Individual Champion, found out first-hand last week just how good 13-year-old phenom Michelle Wei really is.
Wei, already dubbed the Tiger Woods of women's golf, became the youngest player in the 108-year history of the United States Golf Association to win an adult title, defeating the Blue Devil star 1-up in the finals of the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links.
"Despite the loss, I'm actually very satisfied with how I played," Nirapathpongporn said. "[Michelle] is just a great player."
The Honolulu, Hawaii, native used her strong long game to overcome Nirapathpongporn's consistency over the 36-hole showdown, winning the match-play battle 1-up.
The duo was all square at the 135-yard 35th hole (par-3 17th) when Nirapathpongporn missed a three-foot putt for par. That rare mistake in her normally precise short game essentially cost the Thailand native the tournament, as birdies were rare throughout the week on the par-4, 370-yard 36th hole.
Nirapathpongporn gave herself a chance to force a playoff, but her 20-foot birdie putt missed slightly right, giving Wei the victory.
"I knew that putt on the 17th was important," she said. "As soon as I missed it, I knew it was going to be tough to come back."
Although she faltered at the end, Nirapathpongporn was in control for much of the morning round. She was four-up after a stellar opening eight holes and appeared to have the momentum.
"She just didn't give me a chance to make birdie," Wei said of her opponent's early surge. "I was about to give up."
But Wei birdied four of the next six holes to finish the first 18 all square.
Nirapathpongporn once again jumped out to a 2-up lead in the afternoon round, but Wei recovered and came away with the victory after Nirapathpongporn bogeyed the 17th.
The Duke senior reached the finals after eight tiring days that included 11 rounds of play. She won the stroke-play qualifying event for the 64-woman field, allowing her to play the last qualifier in the first round. Her game improved throughout the week, as she defeated Carling Cho 3 and 2, Gabby Wedding 4 and 3, D'Rae Ward 4 and 3, and Beth Allen 5 and 4 before falling to Wei.
"I actually got better and better from the practice rounds, to the qualifying rounds, to match play," Nirapathpongporn said.
She hopes to use this experience to help her succeed in the US Open at the beginning of July, where she will see Wei once again.
"This is definitely an experience I can take a lot of positive from," she said. "This will be good for the US Open and for my own development over a long period of time."
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